Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume
XXXI, South and Central America; Mexico

344. Discussion Memorandum From the Deputy Director of the Office of
Ecuadorean-Peruvian Affairs (Berlin) to the Assistant Secretary of State for
Inter-American Affairs (Oliver)1

Washington, August 6, 1968.

SUBJECT

Timing of the Arrival in Quito of Ambassador Sessions

Discussion:

You will recall that Embassy Quito recommended in June that the new
Ambassador not present credentials to President Arosemena, but that he arrive in Quito
and present his credentials at the time of or immediately following the
inauguration.2 This office disagreed with that
recommendation and argued that the best interests of the United States
would be served by the Ambassador’s arrival in Quito before the end of
the Arosemena administration.

These opposing recommendations originated in differing judgements over
the political future of Arosemena
and the relationship to that future of the arrival of a new U.S.
Ambassador. Briefly, the Embassy argued that the reelection of Arosemena in 1972 would not be in the
interests of the United States and, accordingly, the United States
should take no action that would tend to improve Arosemena’s chances for re-election. To
send an Ambassador now would amount to reconciliation with Arosemena and, in the judgement of the
Embassy, would rehabilitate his image and increase his potential for
re-election in 1972 or later. Thus, the United States should not send an
Ambassador to present credentials to Arosemena.

We agreed that the arrival of an Ambassador during the Arosemena administration would amount
to a reconciliation with Arosemena and we maintained that this is precisely what
the U.S. should seek. We judged that Arosemena stands a better than even chance of returning
to the Presidency at some point in the future, and we doubted that these
odds would be altered substantially by the refusal of the U.S. to effect
a reconciliation with him. (Certainly the repeated election of Velasco indicates that the Ecuadorean
electorate is not greatly [Page 730]influenced by a candidate’s past relationship with the U.S. or by
fears that the U.S. might not find him acceptable.) Thus, in the
possibility that Arosemena may
well return to the Presidency anyway, we thought it would be wise to
effect a reconciliation with him now and thereby to maximize chances of
developing a better relationship with him the next time around.

The arguments pro and con that were fairly clear in June have become
somewhat obscured with the passage of time and with new developments.
Favoring presentation of credentials to President Arosemena are the following new
considerations:

a)

President Arosemena’s
cooperation with the U.S. on the IBRD fisheries loan question;

b)

Our current efforts to persuade Foreign Minister Larrea to
obtain agreement from Velasco
Ibarra to meet with the U.S. in a fisheries
conference. Our Chargé in Quito believes that Larrea would
undertake this mission with greater enthusiasm if he knew the
Ambassador were to present his credentials before September
1.

New considerations which tend to argue against presentation of
credentials include the following:

a)

The nomination and confirmation of Ambassador Sessions3 already
constitute something of a rapprochement with Arosemena and have been cited
by Arosemena as evidence
that U.S.-Ecuadorean relations are as good as ever.

b)

The arrival of the Ambassador just before the inauguration,
rather than a month or six weeks before the inauguration, would
be so obviously designed to put the U.S. blessing on Arosemena that it could
displease Velasco and
add a minor but unnecessary irritation to the U.S. relationship
with him. Our Chargé in Quito thinks it possible that the
arrival of the Ambassador now could make Velasco less willing to commit
himself to a fisheries conference before he takes office.

c)

The arrival of the Ambassador after the inauguration might
betaken by Velasco as a
highly complimentary U.S. effort to make a qualitative
distinction between him and Arosemena.

Conclusion:

The arguments for and against the arrival of Ambassador Sessions are relatively equal in weight
and strength. His arrival would put us on an excellent footing with
President Arosemena in the event
Arosemena[Page 731]returns to the Presidency, but
his nomination and confirmation already have taken the sting out of our
previous posture of no Ambassador for Arosemena. His arrival before September 1 might well be
an irritant in the relationship with Velasco but this is likely to become insignificant as
time passes. Arrival before September 1 might well induce Arosemena to try harder to please us on
the fisheries issue, but it might also lead Velasco to a less accommodating position on the same
problem.

Recommendation:

Although we no longer see a clear and strong advantage to the U.S. on
either side of the issue, we incline to accommodation of President
Arosemena and Foreign
Minister Larrea. Therefore, we recommend that Ambassador Sessions proceed to Quito to present
his credentials to President Arosemena and to attend the inauguration ceremony and
that he then return to Washington to arrange his business and personal
affairs before departing to take up his post on a permanent basis.4

In telegram 4823 from
Quito, June 10. (Ibid., Central Files 1967–69, POL 17 ECUADOR)
José María Velasco Ibarra was elected on June 2 to serve a
fifth term as President.↩

According to the President’s Daily
Diary, the issue of an ambassadorship for Edson O. Sessions, a
Chicago businessman and former Ambassador to Finland, was
raised in a June 19 telephone conversation between the
President and Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen
(R–Illinois). (Johnson Library) Dirksen called the President
to discuss a possible Latin American post for Sessions on July 3, the
same day Crowley
requested verbal agreement for Sessions as U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador.
(Telegram 5222 from Quito, July 4; National Archives and
Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 17–1 US–ECUADOR) On July 26
the White House announced the nomination, which was
confirmed by the Senate 3 days later.↩

Sessions presented his
credentials to President Velasco in a formal ceremony on September 26.
(Telegram 6625 from Quito, September 30; ibid.)↩